


Hogwarts, 1993

by dduucckk



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hogwarts Third Year, I'm struggling to come up with tags right now but I'll add more as I write the fic, M/M, Sirius escapes from Azkaban, The Golden Trio Era (Harry Potter), just a tiny bit tho - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:15:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25709572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dduucckk/pseuds/dduucckk
Summary: Because I refuse to believe that they didn't clear Sirius's name immediately.When Sirius escapes Azkaban and goes to Hogwarts, instead of lurking around as the Grim like a FOOL, he decides to seek help from an old friend.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 31
Kudos: 97





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So. The first chapter of this fic is also on my tumblr, thanks to a prompt that [pan-and-ready-to-stan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dark__blue/pseuds/pan_and_ready_to_stan) sent me, and then I was encouraged by [bluseasandchestnuts](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueseasandchestnuts/pseuds/blueseasandchestnuts) to make it into a whole fic.
> 
> I hope y'all like it! :)

When Remus woke up, he was aware of three things, he was cold, his whole body hurt, and there was someone in the bed with him.

He tentatively opened his eyes and nearly fell off the bed when he saw who was sleeping next to him.

“Sirius?” he gasped. Memories from the night before started to come back to him. Blurry bits and pieces that he was able to retain through the transformation. He stumbled off the bed, pulling the blanket with him to cover his naked body, and looked around the room for his wand. There it was, on the rickety old chair where he’d left it last night. He crossed the room, the old wooden boards of the Shrieking Shack creaking beneath his feet, but before he reached his wand Sirius spoke from the bed.

“Hello, Moony.” His voice was rough and sleepy, and Remus was reminded of other mornings waking up together. But those were years ago. He turned to Sirius and spoke in as hard a voice as he could muster.

“Black.” Sirius’s face fell, his shoulders slumped. Remus held back a wave of pity. “What are you doing here?” he demanded.

“Helping you through the moon,” Sirius said quietly. He sat up, and Remus registered for the first time the condition Sirius was in. His face was gaunt, his hair long and stringy, not at all the beautiful, well cared for locks Remus remembered. He was dressed in the rags of his prisoners’ robes, and Remus could count his ribs through the holes. He looked away. He couldn’t feel any pity for this man, no matter what they used to be to each other. He picked up his wand and pointed it at Sirius, wishing his hand would shake less.

“Get up,” he ordered. “Get up, right now.”

Sirius didn’t move. “Why?” he asked. “So you can make me pay for what I did to James and Lily? I don’t have to move for you to do that.”

Remus’s hand shook even harder now, and even if he had wanted to curse Sirius, the spell wouldn’t have hit its mark. He lowered his wand. Just a little bit. “Why did you do it?” he asked, voice breaking.

Sirius pulled his knees up to his chest. “I didn’t,” he whispered.

“What?”

“I didn’t do it.” Sirius spoke a little bit louder this time, loud enough that there was no chance that Remus had misheard.

“But you were their secret keeper,” Remus said. “You were the only one who could have betrayed them.”

Sirius shook his head. “Peter was their Secret Keeper.”

Remus walked to the bed on shaky legs. He sat down heavily, ignoring the ache in his joints. “Peter…”

“Yeah.” Sirius looked at him for a moment. “And he’s still alive.”

“What?”

“The Weasley boy’s rat.”

“Is Peter?”

“Yes.”

Remus shook his head. This was all too much to absorb, especially when he was this exhausted. He stretched out on the bed, the blanket still wrapped tightly around him. He glanced over at Sirius, whose knees were still curled up against his chest, his arms wrapped around them in a feeble attempt to ward off the cold. Remus lifted up the blanket, inviting Sirius in.

“Come here,” he said, “come cuddle.”

Sirius looked at him with wide eyes. Remus nodded, a soft smile on his face, and Sirius crawled under the blanket next to him, wrapping too-skinny arms around his waist and tangling their bony ankles together. Remus sighed happily. They would need to talk, to make a plan, but for now he was more than happy to fall asleep next to Sirius for the first time in over twelve years.


	2. Chapter 2

Remus woke up late in the afternoon feeling more rested than he had in years. Sirius’s arms were still wrapped tightly around him, but he was awake. Or Remus was pretty sure he was, anyway. He wondered if Sirius’s breathing patterns had changed at all over the last twelve years. Remus gave that quite a bit of thought before he realized he could simply open his eyes and find out, so he did. He smiled when he saw that Sirius’s eyes were open and watching him. “Hello,” Remus said.

“Hello,” Sirius replied. Remus rolled onto his side to face Sirius properly.

“Any idea what time it is?”

Sirius shrugged. “Not really. Past lunchtime but before supper.”

“Helpful.” Remus laughed.

“Don’t be sarcastic, it’s totally helpful!” Sirius protested. “We know that we can’t sneak into the castle yet!”

Remus sighed in exaggerated defeat. “I suppose you’re right,” he said. “I wonder what we can do with all the time we have.” He regretted the words almost as soon as they came out of his mouth. From the look on Sirius’s face, he too was reliving the memories those words brought back - bittersweet ones now, of days when they had had this same conversation in this same place, and what they had done to fill those hours. Remus blushed at the thought, and quickly pushed it from his mind. He clambered out of bed, wincing as he remembered how sore he was, and put on his clothes, keeping his back to Sirius. He turned to see that Sirius hadn’t moved. He was staring at the wall, apparently lost in thought. Remus sat on the edge of the bed and gently touched his shoulder. Sirius jumped, startled, but he relaxed slightly when his gaze fell on Remus. “So,” he said. “What are we going to do?”

“How did you sneak into the castle on Halloween?” Remus asked.

“Turned into Padfoot,” Sirius said. “And I went in one of the back entrances. No one saw me, and they wouldn’t have really thought anything of it if they did.”

Remus nodded. “Go back in that way, and head to my office.”

“Your _office_?” Sirius teased. Remus rolled his eyes. “The defence teacher’s office, then, if it makes you feel better.”

“No, no, I like the idea of you having an office, Moony. It suits you.”

“Oh. Um. Thank you?”

“No problem. So, meet you in your office, then what?”

“Wait in my office until I get there, I’ll stop by the kitchen to get us an early supper. Then we’ll talk.”

Sirius saluted. “Yessir, Messr Moony, that sounds like a plan.”

“Oh, fuck off.”

~~~

Barely an hour later, they were sitting in Remus’s cozy little bedroom that adjoined his office, eating leftovers from lunch.

“What did the house elves think when you got all of this?” Sirius asked as he stared at the impressive spread before them.

“I just told them I was very, _very_ hungry.” Remus shrugged. “They were happy to have someone visit.”

“They always are,” Sirius said with a grin. “Remember the first time we went down there, it must have been in what, second year?” He looked to Remus for confirmation.

“Yeah, the third day of second year,” Remus said. “I don’t remember how we figured it out, though.”

Sirius thought for a moment. “I remember! We overheard a few portraits talking!”

“Yes!” Remus laughed. “They were furious when they found out we’d heard, but we just ran off to see if it was true.”

“Remember how angry McGonagall was when she heard we skipped potions?”

“Two weeks of detention!”

“I reckon it was just ‘cause she knew we’d been up to something. She couldn’t have actually been that mad about us missing old Sluggy’s class.”

Remus nodded in agreement. “Two weeks was definitely a bit excessive, but I can’t blame her. We were always up to something.”

“Yeah,” Sirius said with a laugh. “And we did do something with all the food we got, didn’t we? We definitely didn’t eat it all.”

Remus frowned, trying to remember. “Oh! We put that spell on it that turns people’s spit green! Wait, no, that was the side effect. Didn’t it make everything taste like mint toothpaste or something stupid like that?”

Sirius howled with laughter. “And we put them on the Slytherin table! Yes! We really were little geniuses.”

“Remember how Prongs ate one by accident? It lasted a week!”

“I have a secret about that,” Sirius said with a grin. “I knew the counter spell the whole time. It was just really fucking funny to see him complain.”

Remus laughed, thinking of James’s dramatics during that week. He had never been able to use mint toothpaste again. But any thought of James was guaranteed to turn into a sad thought, and Remus and Sirius soon stopped reminiscing and focused on eating. When they had both eaten their fill, Remus turned on the small couch so that he was facing Sirius and said, “Tell me everything. About Peter being Secret Keeper, about your escape from Azkaban. Everything.”

Quietly, with his eyes focused on his hands, Sirius told him. He told him how he and Peter had switched, how he thought he had come up with the idea himself but now he was sure Peter had planted it in his head somehow. Remus thought he was probably right. Peter had always been good at that. Sirius told Remus how he had gone looking for Peter after giving Harry to Hagrid, how Peter had been the one to kill all those muggles, how he had cut off his finger and disguised himself as a rat.

“If you knew all that, why didn’t you tell anyone? We could have gotten you out of Azkaban, I’m sure of it!”

Sirius shrugged. “It was my fault anyway. I was the one who was supposed to be their Secret Keeper, and I gave the job to Peter. I didn’t kill them myself, but I was the reason they were killed.”

Remus logged that away to deal with later. “How did you get out?”

“Padfoot,” Sirius said simply. He explained about seeing Wormtail in a newspaper article about the Weasleys, and about coming to Hogwarts to try and find him. “I wasn’t expecting to find you as well,” he said softly.

Remus reached out and squeezed his hand. “Well I’m very glad you did. We’ll work out a plan in the morning, but right now I’m exhausted and I need to sleep some more.”

“Just out of curiosity, how do you not have any injuries from the moon?” Sirius asked. “I know it’s not something that gets better over time.”

“No, it certainly isn’t.” Remus said with a small laugh. “But there’s this new potion, wolfsbane, that Severus has been brewing for me. It makes the transformation easier.”

“Severus?” Sirius asked, his nose wrinkled in disgust.

“Yes, he’s the potions master now. Slughorn retired several years ago. And no, you’re not allowed to prank him, Sirius, you have to stay hidden,” He said sternly.

“Yes, professor.”

Remus rolled his eyes and tossed Sirius a pair of pyjamas. “Here, wear these. You look just as tired as I feel.”

Sirius accepted the pyjamas gratefully and put them on before climbing into the small bed beside Remus.

“Goodnight,” he whispered.

Remus, already half asleep, mumbled an almost inaudible “Goodnight, Pads,” before sleep overtook him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have a posting schedule for this at all, I'll be posting new chapters as soon as I write them. I'll try not to take too long between updates tho :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello yes I wrote this instead of working on a fic I actually need to work on I hope you like it

“Professor, why do you have a dog?”

“He’s a stray that I came across in Hogsmeade. Never feed a stray dog, Miss Brown, it will follow you around forever.”

Lavender Brown frowned. “But what if the dog’s hungry?”

“Then make sure it doesn’t know you’re the one feeding it. Trust me, they’re more trouble than they’re worth.” If Sirius weren’t in dog form, he would be glaring daggers at Remus. As it was, his attempt only made Remus laugh. “Padfoot,” he said, “Sit.” Padfoot stared at him resentfully. Remus raised an eyebrow. With a mighty huff, Padfoot trotted over to Remus’s desk and sat down beside it. “Good dog,” Remus laughed. “I’ll get you a treat later.” Padfoot’s ears perked up at the word ‘treat’.

As more students filed in and took their seats, Remus got so many questions about the sudden appearance of a dog in his classroom that he announced to the class that when everyone was here, they could ask about the dog all they liked, but he didn’t want to have to repeat himself twenty times.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were among the last to get to class, and when Harry saw Padfoot, he froze. Ron, who was right behind Harry, collided with him with enough force to make Harry stumble forward as Ron fell backwards, just missing Hermione, who had to leap out of the way of his flailing arms.

“Professor?” Harry said weakly, “Is that–that’s not–it’s not the Grim, is it?”

Remus tried desperately to hold back the laughter building in his throat. He coughed into his fist, and managed to say in a level voice, “No, Harry, it’s not the Grim. This is Padfoot, I found him yesterday and he hasn’t left yet.”

“Padfoot?” Harry had a strange look on his face, almost as if–but no, he couldn’t know that Padfoot was Sirius. How would he find that out? Remus shook his head, dismissing the thought, and ushered Harry and his friends into the classroom. As soon as they took their seats, the rest of the class bombarded Remus with questions. He answered them as patiently as he could, thankful for his lifelong practice at avoiding questions and making up stories on the spot. It took the better part of fifteen minutes before the class was satisfied, and even then, Remus was sure they could have gone on for much longer if he hadn’t managed to change the subject.

By the time the bell rang, Remus had managed to get through most of his lesson plan with relatively few interruptions. Several students paused on their way out to pet Padfoot, and Remus could tell that Sirius was enjoying the attention. “Don’t let it get to your head, Pads,” he teased, and the dog looked up at him, affronted.

“Harry!” Remus called out. Harry paused in the doorway.

“Sir?”

“Come by my office after dinner, and bring Mr Weasely and Miss Granger with you. You’re not in trouble,” he added at the apprehensive look on Harry’s face. “Not at all. I have someone I’d like you three to meet.”

“Okay, Professor. See you after dinner, then.” Harry left with a wave and a confused smile. Remus didn’t have another class until after lunch, so he and Sirius retreated to his bedroom.

As soon as Remus locked the door behind them, Padfoot turned back into Sirius, who was wearing one of Remus’s jumpers and a pair of jeans that didn’t quite reach his ankles.

“Why did you tell him to bring his friends?”

“He’s going to tell them anyway, they might as well hear it from us.”

“He might not tell them.”

“Would you have kept something like this from us when we were that age?”

“No,” Sirius admitted. “But how do we know we can trust them? What if they just turn me in?”

“They won’t, I’m sure of it. Harry chooses his friends wisely.”

Sirius crossed his arms stubbornly. Remus, equally stubborn, ignored him and got out his lesson plan for his afternoon classes. It still needed some fine-tuning.

~~~

Remus had only just got back from supper when Harry knocked on his office door. He could hear the shower going in the bathroom, and hoped that Sirius would be finished soon, and that he had remembered to bring clothes in with him. He had always had a bad habit of leaving his clothes in his room and, Remus reasoned, it probably wouldn’t be best if Sirius was naked the first time he met Harry. _Not technically the first time,_ Remus thought, then cursed himself for allowing his mind to go there. For all intents and purposes, this would be the first time Harry met Sirius, just as the first time he had met Remus had been on the train back in September.

Harry knocked again, and Remus went to answer the door. As he conjured up two extra chairs for Ron and Hermione, he heard the shower switch off and the bathroom door open. Sirius walked into the room, wearing only a towel around his waist.

“Hey all! Nice to meet you, I’ll be right back.” He crossed the room as quickly as he dared with his wet feet, and clicked the bedroom door shut behind him. Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared after him.

“Professor Lupin?” Hermione asked.

“Yes, Miss Granger?”

“Was that Sirius Black?”

Remus cleared his throat. “Er, yes. It was.”

“Sirius Black, the mass murderer?” Ron asked.

“Not technically a mass murderer,” Remus muttered.

“What do you mean, not technically a mass murderer?” Hermione demanded.

“I mean he’s not a mass murderer.”

“What was he doing in your shower?” Harry asked. Remus buried his face in his hands.

“This is going to take so much more explaining than I thought,” he groaned. He heard the bedroom door open and footsteps approach, and when he looked up, there was Sirius, wearing more of Remus’s muggle clothes and combing out his hair.

“You’re going to have to cut this for me, Moony. You used to give the best haircuts. I hope you haven’t lost your touch!” He winked at Remus.

“Now is not the time, Sirius.”

“Well, did you tell them I’m innocent?”

“Yes, but no more than that.”

“Oh.” Sirius turned to the teenagers, who were watching silently, their confusion becoming increasingly obvious. “I knew Remus here in school,” he explained. “And your dad, Harry. And there was this other bloke, Peter.” he made a face as he said Peter’s name. He told Harry and his friends everything that he had told Remus, and the three teenagers nodded, and asked questions, and were overall very calm about the whole thing. When Sirius was done, Harry reached into his bag, digging through it, looking for something.

“You called Professor Lupin Moony earlier, didn’t you?” he asked Sirius.

“Yes, why?”

“And Professor, you called that dog Padfoot?”

“Yes, actually, about the dog…”

Harry stopped rummaging through his bag and fixed Remus with a look that was more than a little reminiscent of how Lily used to look when she asked about their latest prank. Morbidly curious. Wanting to know, but wishing she didn’t. “What about the dog?”

Remus looked at Sirius. In the blink of an eye, Padfoot stood in Sirius’s place, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione all jumped in surprise, Harry almost dropping his bag.

“He’s an animagus!” Ron gasped.

Padfoot turned back into Sirius. “We all were,” he said with a grin. Ron turned eagerly to Remus.

“What’s yours?”

“We’ll save that for another time,” Remus said evasively. “Harry, why did you want to know about the nicknames?”

Harry pulled a piece of blank parchment from his bag, waving it around triumphantly. “Because of this!” he said, sliding it across the desk to Remus. Remus looked at it, then back up at Harry. Harry pulled out his wand and tapped the parchment, saying, “I solemnly swear I am up to no good.”

At the words, the parchment came alive. Remus pressed a trembling hand over his mouth as he read the words that appeared on the paper. Sirius leaned heavily on the desk, eyes filling with tears.

“The map,” Remus whispered.

“I thought it was gone for good.” Sirius reached out to touch it. “May I?” he asked, looking at Harry. Harry nodded, and Sirius picked up the map, examining it. “Filch took it. Remember?” he said to Remus. “He found out we were using it and took it. I never saw it after that. How did you get it?” he looked up at Harry.

“Fred and George–Ron’s brothers–gave it to me. They said they stole it from Filch’s office.”

Sirius put the map back on the desk, unfolding it to reveal the little dots moving all around Hogwarts. “I can’t believe it still works,” he marveled.

Remus looked up at Harry. “We made this. All four of us. In our fourth and fifth years. I can’t believe you’ve found it again.”

“Do you want it back?” Harry asked. Remus shook his head.

“No,” he said. “I think you have more use for it than I do. Although, as your teacher I probably shouldn’t encourage whatever it is you’re using it for.”

Sirius folded up the map and gave it to Harry. “As your godfather,” he said with a grin and a wink, “I can and will encourage it.”

Harry took back the map with a grin to match Sirius’s, and stowed it in his bag. “What do we need to do now?” he asked.

“We need to clear Sirius’s name,” Remus said, “And for that, we need Peter Pettigrew.” He turned to Ron. “Your rat, please.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to open by saying that I have absolutely no idea at what point in the third book this fic is set. It's been a while since I read the book, so I remember what happens but not in what order so I'm pretty much just making things up to suit where I want this to go. So maybe just keep that in mind

“My rat?” Ron spluttered, “What’s my rat got to do with it?”

Sirius huffed impatiently. Remus shot him a look over his shoulder, and Sirius rolled his eyes. Turning back to face Ron, Remus explained, “Your rat _is_ Peter. That’s his animagus form.”

Ron stared at him, speechless. Hermione frowned. “You’re sure it’s Scabbers, and not some other rat?”

“It’s definitely Scabbers,” Sirius confirmed. Ron and Hermione looked at each other, and Harry glanced between them anxiously.

“Is something wrong?” Remus asked.

When it became clear that neither of his friends were going to answer, Harry cleared his throat. “Yeah, er, the problem is, well, Hermione’s cat killed Scabbers.”

If there hadn’t been students present, Remus would have cursed colourfully enough to make a sailor blush. As it was, he bit back everything he wanted to say and took a deep breath. He could feel Sirius’s hand gripping his shoulder tightly, and Remus reached up and tapped the back of Sirius’s hand. Sirius released his grip, and Remus rubbed his shoulder, hoping it wouldn’t bruise.

“When?” Sirius asked. “When did Crookshanks do that?”

“How do you know his name?” Hermione demanded.

“That’s really not important right now.” Sirius ran a hand through his hair, tugging on the ends. Remus watched a few long strands fall to the floor. “Are you sure he’s dead? Definitely dead?”

“Definitely dead,” Ron said. “Sorry.”

Remus sighed. “Well, I suppose there isn’t really anything we can do about that.” He glanced up at Sirius. “Sorry you never got your revenge.”

Sirius shrugged. “At least he’s dead, I suppose. That’s something.”

“But,” Harry said, staring wide eyed at Remus and Sirius, “don’t we still need to clear Sirius’s name? How are we going to do that without Peter?”

Sirius blinked in surprise. Remus snorted. “What, did you not think of that, Pads?”

“Of course I thought of it,” Sirius said, although the flush on his face said otherwise. “But how are we going to do it?”

They all sat in silence, thinking. “We could tell Dumbledore,” Harry suggested. “He could probably do something about it.”

Sirius shook his head vehemently. “Dumbledore already left me to rot in Azkaban for twelve years, I don’t think he’ll try very hard to help now.”

“But he couldn’t have known!” Hermione protested. “No one knew!”

“Dumbledore knows everything,” Sirius said. “There’s no way in hell–excuse my language–that he didn’t have at least some idea of what was going on. I don’t trust him.”

“Sirius…” Remus cautioned. “I need you to calm down a bit.”

“Calm down? Why should I calm down? You know I’m right!”

“We have no idea what Dumbledore knew or didn’t know at the time, and it’s not worth fighting over now. He may be our best option.”

Sirius crossed his arms. “I’m not getting help from him.”

Remus shot him a glare. “Sirius, stop being–” All of a sudden he remembered that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were still in the room. “You three can go,” he said as kindly as he could, “Thank you for your help.”

“Is there anything we can do?” Harry asked.

“I don’t think so. You three should just focus on your classes for now, and we’ll sort it out, okay? It’ll be fine, I promise.” He shooed them out the door, a smile pasted on his face that dropped the second he turned back to Sirius and the door closed behind him.

“What the fuck, Sirius? Telling Dumbledore is most likely the only thing we can do that will actually get us anywhere!”

“How do you know that?” Sirius shouted. “Who ever told you that Dumbledore is fucking perfect or whatever the fuck you think he is? Because he’s not! He knew, he had to have known! He always knew everything that was happening with the Order but he still didn’t do shit!”

“I trust him, Sirius! He’s done so much for me, I wouldn’t be here without him! I wouldn’t know you without him! That has to mean something! It has to.” Remus watched Sirius, his face hard and angry. Behind the desk, Sirius stared back, refusing to back down.

“He raised you to fight in a war. He raised all of us to fight in a war, and we didn’t have a choice. He’s the reason James and Lily are dead, he’s the reason I was in Azkaban, he’s the reason Harry is living with muggles instead of with his family where he belongs! Don’t you see, Remus? All of this, _all of it_ , is Dumbledore’s fault, because without him, we wouldn’t have had to become soldiers when we were eighteen fucking years old.” Sirius sat down heavily in the chair, staring down at Remus’s desk. “We shouldn’t have had to do it,” he whispered. “It was wrong, and I didn’t see it at the time, but I see it now, and I just–I can’t let the same thing happen to Harry.” He looked up at Remus, tears shining in his eyes. “I won’t let that happen.”

Remus crossed the room in a second, kneeling down beside Sirius and taking his hands. “Sirius,” he said, “Sirius, look at me, please.” Sirius turned his head, just a tiny bit, and Remus could see the tears rolling down his cheeks. “It won’t happen,” Remus said softly, “I promise, it won’t. I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that Harry gets a life after this, a good one, not the shithole we’ve both been living through.” Sirius gave a wet laugh that turned into a sob, and Remus pulled him down onto the floor next to him, cradling Sirius in his arms. “And I know you’ll do everything you can as well, but first we need to make sure that you’re free. That you don’t have to live the rest of your life in fear of getting caught. Because you don’t deserve that, Sirius. You deserve a good life, and I’m going to make sure you get it.”

Sirius nodded against Remus’s shirt. “Promise?” he whispered.

“Promise,” Remus whispered back. “We don’t have to go to Dumbledore if you don’t want to, I’m sure we can come up with something else.”

Sirius lifted his head, his tears mostly stopped now, and smiled. “We’re clever enough, we can figure something out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sirius and Remus's argument about Dumbledore is vaguely based off of/inspired by a couple of tumblr posts that I've only seen in screenshots on instagram, but they talk about how Dumbledore probably knew that Sirius was innocent at some point, but didn't do anything and every time I see those posts I'm like damn.......ol dumbles didn't do anything good for anyone ever did he
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading!! I love y'all and your comments <3 The next chapter will be up as soon as I decide what's going to happen in it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this chapter completely self indulgent and irrelevant to the plot? Yes, absolutely. But writer's block SUCKS and this is the first decent thing I've been able to write in like a week so y'all have to enjoy it or else.

_Snip!_ Another chunk of matted hair fell to the floor and joined the already impressive amount lying at Remus’s feet. Half of Sirius’s hair was cut to his chin, and Remus got to work on the other half, which was hanging down the back of the chair. It brushed Sirius’s hips when he stood.

_Snip!_ With each cut of the scissors, Sirius’s shoulders relaxed, a weight seemingly lifted off them. He had shaved his beard at the first opportunity, he told Remus, and Remus had laughed at the thought of Sirius with a beard. He imagined it would look like Hagrid’s, all black and messy and tangled. Sirius had laughed with him, then handed him the scissors. “You always used to give me haircuts,” he’d said, and Remus found that he couldn’t refuse.

He ran his fingers gently through Sirius’s hair, wishing he could do it without all the memories flooding back. Of the first time he did this, back in second year right before they all went home for the summer. Sirius hadn’t wanted his parents to see his long hair. Remus had had to cut it all off then, much shorter than he was doing now. It had become a tradition after that, one that was a little bit sad no matter how the others tried to lighten the mood. James used to insist on getting his own hair cut. Peter, of course, would volunteer to do it, and it would end up looking even worse than before. But it made Sirius laugh, even as his own hair fell to the ground in clumps, so it was worth it.

A few years later, and Remus treasured those moments as the only time he could touch Sirius without the worry of what he might think. It was an ever present worry at that time, not helped by the fact that Sirius always found some excuse to be near him, to press their legs together as they sat side by side, to wrap an arm around Remus’s neck and drag his head down to ruffle his curls teasingly.

And then––Remus didn’t want to think about and then. Because if he thought about and then, he might want it again. He might ask Sirius if he wanted it too. And Remus couldn’t stand it if the answer was no.

He cleared his throat. Shook his head. His hair bounced into his eyes and he shook it out impatiently. Sirius glanced up and laughed. “Need me to cut your hair next, Moony?”

“I think I’m fine,” Remus said. “Turn around now, I’ve still got a bit more to do.”

“Yes, Professor.”

“Oh, fuck off.”

Once Remus had Sirius’s hair evened out, he picked up a comb and a spray bottle and got to work untangling it. He brought the conditioner in from the bathroom, and gently massaged it into the knots, dampening it with water from the spray bottle and combing it out as carefully as he could. Sirius sat still the whole time, but Remus could see his knuckles turning white with his grip on the chair.

Remus tapped his forearm on Sirius’s shoulder. “You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Sirius nodded. “Just hurts a bit, is all.”

“I’m sorry,” Remus winced sympathetically and rubbed his fingers into Sirius’s scalp, more of a massage than anything else. Sirius hummed, pleased, and pressed his head back into Remus’s hands.

“That feels nice.”

Remus resisted the urge to kiss the top of Sirius’s head. “Good, it’s supposed to.”

Sirius tilted his head back to smile up at Remus. Remus smiled back, and nudged Sirius’s head back into place. He squeezed more conditioner into his hand and got to work on a particularly tenacious knot.


	6. Chapter 6

Someone was knocking on Remus’s office door. 

Remus put down his quill and carefully moved aside the papers he was grading so as not to smudge the ink. Sirius, who had been reading in one of the chairs across from Remus, stood up and retreated to Remus’s room.

“Come in!” Remus called out. The door swung open, and Hermione walked in, a stack of books teetering in her arms.

“Do you need any help with that?” Remus asked.

Hermione shook her head. “No thanks, Professor, I’ve got it.” She managed to put the books on his desk without dropping any, but it was a close call–the top one wobbled and started to fall, but Hermione’s arm shot out and caught it just in time, her reflexes clearly honed from years of this precise problem. The books all balanced in their pile, she sat down in the same chair Sirius had been in just a minute ago.

“How can I help you, Miss Granger?”

“Hagrid’s hippogriff is going to have a trial because he attacked Draco Malfoy at the beginning of term.”

“Okay…” Remus wasn’t sure what this had to do with him, but he let her continue.

“I’ve been doing research to try and build a case for Buckbeak. That’s the hippogriff,” she added. “And, well, I thought since I’m doing the research anyway, I’d try and find something to help Sirius.”

“Help...Sirius?”

“Yes,” Hermione said impatiently. “If we can get him a trial and prove he didn’t kill all those muggles, we can clear his name! Even without Pettigrew.”

Remus gaped at her. “I...wow. That’s a really good idea.”

“How come you never thought of it, Moony?” Sirius called from the bedroom. Remus ignored him.

“Miss Granger,” he said, “it’s a brilliant idea, and thank you for telling me. But I don’t want you to feel as though you have to solve Sirius’s situation on your own. I can do the research and make plans, and if you want to help, then you can. But from what I hear, you’re taking a lot of classes this year, so I would recommend that you focus on those as much as you can.”

“I want to help,” Hermione said firmly. “I can handle it, Professor, I promise. I just think it’s important, and it’ll go faster if both of us are working on it.”

“I think you mean all three!” Sirius poked his head into the office. “I’m helping too! And see if you can get Harry and Ron in on it as well.”

“I’ll talk to them about it,” Hermione said. She stood up and carefully picked up her books. “Thank you, Professor Lupin.” She left, and Remus closed the door behind her.

“Honestly, how did we not think of that before?” Sirius asked.

“It’s not like you got a trial the first time around.” Remus shrugged. “I guess I never considered the possibility.”

“Yeah, that was a bit fucked up, wasn’t it?” Sirius said reflectively. He glanced at the clock. “Can we get started on this tomorrow? I’m tired.”

Remus laughed. “Old man.”

“Don’t tell me you’re not tired.”

“Maybe a little bit.”

“Good. Let’s be old men together and go to bed.”

~~~

It was strange, living with someone. Remus had been alone for so long that he had almost forgotten how it felt to wake up to hear the shower running, to spend the day with another person, to fall asleep next to them.

He was well aware that the only reason this was happening was the lack of another place for Sirius to live, but he couldn’t help imagining that this was what their lives could have been like. Sometimes, his mind would wander, and he would get caught up in images of another life, a better one: Going to James and Lily’s for supper, babysitting Harry and his siblings–because James and Lily had planned on having more babies, he had heard them talking about it once–making sure Sirius got Harry reasonable presents, _living with Sirius_. Remus couldn’t stop thinking about what it would have been like to live with Sirius for the past twelve years. He knew he shouldn’t, he knew it would only make the disappointment worse when Sirius inevitably left, but he couldn’t help it.

He pictured it all in his head: Him and Sirius, moving out of the little flat they had shared in London into another, slightly larger flat. Sirius would have wanted them to move into a house, or at least a flat with a decent amount of space, and Remus would have pointed out that he wouldn't be able to pay any portion of the rent on anything bigger, and Sirius would have said he didn’t care, he had all that money, didn’t he? And they would have argued, and Remus would have gone off to complain to Lily about rich boyfriends, and she would have sympathised, and then calmed him down and told him to “Go talk to Sirius, for Merlin’s sake!”, and Remus would have done just that because Lily always knew best, and then he and Sirius would have compromised on a flat just barely in Remus’s price range and Sirius would insist on paying most of the rent, because then Remus could do the groceries, and wasn’t he always saying he should be in charge of the cooking anyway? And Remus would have laughed, and agreed, and they would have lived there happily.

And then when Remus got the teaching position at Hogwarts, would Sirius have come to live with him the way he was now? The two of them had always been inseparable, so Remus liked to think he would have. He liked to think that every twist and turn of fate would have led him right here, to this small bedroom next to his office at Hogwarts, with Sirius snoring softly beside him.

The curtain wasn’t quite closed, and there was just enough moonlight shining through the window for Remus to study Sirius. His face was peaceful, his hair spread across the pillow, and his limbs were doing that thing they always did when he slept, where they sprawled across the bed, bent in ways that looked absolutely impossible and Remus had never seen them do that while Sirius was awake. Twelve years ago, Remus would have been cuddled up to him, wrapped in those arms with his own twined tightly around Sirius’s. Now, he was pressed up against the wall, trying to leave as much space between himself and Sirius as he could. But that didn’t stop him from watching.

Sirius twitched in his sleep, a frown appearing on his face as he curled in on himself and a low whine escaped his throat. Remus reached out to place a hand on Sirius’s back, but stopped when Sirius started to talk.

“James,” he whispered. “James!” Louder this time, and the anguish in his voice broke Remus’s heart. He stretched out his arm until his fingers brushed Sirius’s back, and Sirius turned towards him, still asleep, still trapped in his nightmare.

“Sirius,” Remus whispered. “Sirius, wake up.”

Sirius’s head turned towards Remus, his eyes still tightly shut. “Remus?”

“Yeah, Pads, I’m right here.”

“No, Moony, no!” Sirius shrieked. Finally, his eyes opened, and he sat up so quickly he almost fell off the bed. He was panting, looking around frantically, and when his eyes fell on Remus, his entire body relaxed.

“You’re okay,” he whispered.

“Yeah, Sirius, I’m fine.” Remus tentatively touched Sirius’s shoulder, and Sirius leaned into it, still staring at him.

“You–I heard your voice. And–and James was on the ground but then you were there too and–” Tears started running down Sirius’s face, and Remus pulled him back down onto the bed, back into Remus’s arms.

Sirius sobbed, and Remus held him as tears streamed down his own face, dampening Sirius’s hair. This was something Remus had never thought about. For twelve years, Sirius had been forced to relive his worst memories, and somehow it hadn’t occurred to Remus at any point over the past few days that one of those memories would be James’s death. Of course it would. James had been like a brother to Sirius. To all of them. Remus tucked his face into Sirius’s hair, and the two men clung to each other as they cried, and Remus found that the grief was easier to bear with someone by his side.

~~~

They woke up the next morning with red, puffy faces and tired eyes, but neither of them had moved from the position they had fallen asleep in, and Remus never wanted to. He felt safe and secure under the blankets, with one of Sirius’s arms wrapped around Remus’s waist, the fingers of his other hand tangled in Remus’s hair. Sirius smiled at him, and Remus thought back to the life he had imagined for them the night before. _This is what it would feel like,_ he thought, and he wanted it so badly.

“Sleep well?” he asked.

Sirius snorted. “As well as I could after that.”

“Good,” Remus said, “because today we need to come up with a plan to get you a trial.”

Sirius groaned. “Can’t that wait a few more hours?”

“Technically, yes, but you know I believe in an early start.”

“I fucking do,” Sirius grumbled, “and I can’t believe you haven’t changed that horrible opinion.”

Remus started nudging Sirius towards the edge of the bed.

“Moony! What are you doing?”

“I don’t want to climb over you to get up.”

“So you’re pushing me onto the floor instead.”

“If I have to.”

“Fine, fine, I’ll get up!” Sirius heaved himself out of bed and Remus followed, a smug grin on his face.

“Come on, I’ll get you some coffee and then you’ll be awake enough to talk about things.”

“Ah, sweet sweet coffee! Love of my life!”

Remus almost teased Sirius about how coffee seemed to have replaced him, then remembered that they hadn’t actually discussed that yet. It could wait, he decided. Clearing Sirius’s name was more important right now.

~~~

“No Remus, we’re not going to Dumbledore.”

“Who else can get you a trial, Sirius? Who? I’m a werewolf, no one’s going to listen to me!”

“I don’t know who, but there has to be someone who isn’t Dumbledore! Who’s someone we can trust who would also be trusted by the Ministry?”

At the same time, they looked at each other, eyes wide. “Minnie.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What plot???? (I keep trying to make plant happen and then it keeps NOT HAPPENING and I deeply apologize) (We're definitely getting some in the next chapter though, there's no way I can mess that up)
> 
> Anyway, I love every single one of you for reading this thank u


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a very short chapter bc I spent a long time trying to figure out what should happen next and I couldn't, but hopefully the next one will be longer?? And won't take two months to write?? Wish me luck lol

Minerva McGonagall folded her hands on her desk and surveyed the two men in front of her.

“So you are trying to tell me,” she said, “that Sirius Black is innocent, and that Peter Pettigrew betrayed the Potters, faked his own death, and lived with the Weaselys as a rat for twelve years.”

“Er, well, when you put it like that–”

“Answer my question, Lupin.”

“Yes, that’s what I’m trying to tell you.”

“And now he is actually dead, because Hermione Granger’s cat ate him.”

“Yes.” Remus fought not to shrink back into his chair as McGonagall fixed him with an unreadable stare.

“And to prove this, you brought Sirius Black, convicted mass murderer, most wanted man in the wizarding world, _into my office_?”

“Again, when you put it like that it sounds a lot worse than–”

“That, Mr Lupin, would be because it is.”

Remus was silent. Professor McGonagall studied him for a moment, then her gaze moved to Sirius, who was standing almost timidly behind Remus. He waved at her.

“Have a biscuit.”

Remus blinked. “Sorry?”

Professor McGonagall pushed her tartan biscuit tin towards Remus. “Have a biscuit. You too, Black. And sit down.”

Sirius took the empty seat beside Remus and carefully took a biscuit. He nudged the tin towards Remus, who reached in with two fingers and plucked out a biscuit, never taking his eyes off of Professor McGonagall.

“Do you believe us?” he asked.

“Of course I do, Lupin, that’s a silly question.”

“Oh.”

Sirius took a bite of his biscuit and leaned forward. “Are you going to help us?”

“That, Mr Black, is an equally silly question. Yes, I will help you. What do you need help with?”

“We need to get Sirius a trial.”

“And we need to get custody of Harry!” Sirius added.

“Preferably in that order,” Remus said.

“So the first thing we need to do,” said Professor McGonagall, “is find a way to get Sirius a trial that doesn’t involve him getting arrested again.”

Remus was suddenly very glad they had decided to ask McGonagall. “How are we going to do that?”

“That’s a very good question, Mr Lupin, a very good question indeed.”

**Author's Note:**

> Drop in and say hi on [tumblr!](https://dduucckk.tumblr.com)


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